March 24, 2010

DEN DOLDER, The Netherlands – An international group of high-level religious and spiritual leaders pledged "stronger, more visible and practical leadership in the response to HIV" as a global Summit of Religious Leaders on HIV concluded here March 23.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), attended the summit.

"Our focus was ending stigma and discrimination for those who are HIV positive and who have AIDS. We recognized that religious communities have been part of that," Hanson said in a telephone interview with the ELCA News Service before he left to return to the United States. A key piece of the summit was that people living with HIV and AIDS were full participants, he said.

According to the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), some 40 Baha'í, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders met March 22-23. They met together with executive directors of the Joint United Nations (U.N.) Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), the AIDS ambassadors of The Netherlands and Sweden, leaders and representatives of networks of people living with HIV and other organizations working in the response to HIV, the EAA reported.

"I've been part of other events, but I've never been part of such a group of people at this level and such diverse religious communities," Hanson said.

An estimated 33.2 million people are living with HIV and AIDS worldwide. Of that, 1.2 million are living in the United States.

Hanson said he spoke about the ELCA Strategy on HIV and AIDS at the summit. The strategy was adopted by the ELCA Church Council last year. The 2009 Churchwide Assembly agreed to raise $10 million over a three-year period to fund it. Hanson said many summit participants expressed appreciation for the ELCA strategy.

Participants affirmed in a concluding statement a "renewed sense of urgency" to set priorities and strengthen response to HIV, the EAA release said. Such response includes "holistic prevention" in addition to reaching universal access to treatment, care and support, the release said.

The statement called for "universal respect for the human rights of all people living with … affected by and at risk of HIV infection," and "respect for the dignity of every human being." The religious leaders called for "a massive social mobilization" for support services for women to eliminate the transmission of HIV from mother to child, EAA's release said.

The religious leaders also signed a pledge committing themselves to strengthened efforts to respond to HIV. The pledge includes "deepening meaningful engagement with people living with HIV" and "acting decisively to protect human rights within my faith community; through collaboration among other religious leaders of different faiths; and by influencing local, national, regional and global decision-making processes on HIV," EAA reported.

Hanson said he was part of the team that drafted the pledge. "We (agreed) every 18 months to give account of this pledge," he said. "I have not been part of an interfaith group that has spoken with that kind of specificity."

"It was quite moving to see a line of religious leaders to personally attest their names to the pledge," Hanson said. "For me to sign this document was one way of fulfilling the commitment of the ELCA to our HIV and AIDS strategy." Each of the leaders who signed the pledge will encourage other religious leaders to sign, he added.

The summit was organized by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, Geneva, and Cordaid, the Catholic development organization in The Netherlands. Supporters included the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNAIDS, International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV or AIDS, the World AIDS Campaign and the European Council of Religious Leaders.

The texts of the summit statement and personal commitment to action will be available at http://www.e-alliance.ch/, on the Web.

Information about the ELCA Strategy on HIV and AIDS is at http://www.ELCA.org/aids/, on the ELCA Web Site.

ELCA News Service